Gun which fires during forward movement of the gun



Oct. 22, 1940. W ERMES-rl ET AL 21,218,877

MGUN WHICH FIRES DURING FORWARD MOVEMENTOF THE GUN Filed May 18, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet l m/en fors;

Oct. 22, 1940. w ERNEST] ETAL 2,218,877.

GUN WHICH FIRES DURING FORWARD MOVEMENT oF THE c-UN Filed May 18, 1'958 :e sheets-'sheet 2 I Fg 7 c2 C3 y C4 C; b5 Y//Y/ /1/ Erl/IL@ (l/ w /I m V/y V//f WWE' ,v i

.v i STATES 35, ably simpler toeiect.

' Patented Oct. 22g, 1940 PATEN'l-f oma-.3:

Appucaupn May 1s, 193s, serial No. 208,682

' In Germany August 20, 1936 solaires. (ci. ssi-27) A InV order toreduce ythe 'recoil force of` guns mounted on gun -mountings and carriages, par- :ticularlyin the case of gunsV of large calibre, itV` has lbeen. found to be advantageous for the gunv .6 .to be mounted so as to becapable of moving longitudinally as a whole onvv` the mounting or zcarriage, and for the gun Vto be fired during its `forward or running out movement. The gun may bearranged so as to slide directly or indirectly ,'10 on the cradle. In the latter case the gunrrests on a sliding member which in its turn runs backwards and forwards in the cradle. In this case the movements of the sliding member are controlled by a running out spring and a recoil buffer yliittedinthe cradle. Such machine guns which are red during` the running `out movement havey a firing .cam on'the cradle and, on the/slide, a firing mechanism which comes into contact therewith and 'K i 2.0 .which, during the forwardmovement'of the slid- 'f v .ing member, by striking against theiiring cam is brought into operation and actuates .the trigger of the gun. The firing mechanism is returned ;.to .its, originalposition by means of a spring. A second spring makes the mechanism itself ilexf .ible, so that when the safety catch ofthe gun is ,inoperation .and thegun trigger is thereby held securely, it is not damaged by the action of the cam on the gun carriage.

' 30 As compared with this knownf'form of con-,A

struction, the invention provides .an arrange-,f ment which, owing to the absence of several hitherto necessary structuralV members, makes ring during the running out movement consider- A further advantage is vthe' widened sphere of application,'inasmuch as Y the tiring of different kinds of ammunition'which,

Y owing to varying recoil forcesycause a diierence.

"in the length of the running out path ofthe y il.' 40 gun,.has no influence onfthe mode of operation of the firing device. Hitherto, when a change was l' made in the kind of ammunition it was also necessary vto adjust Athe ring cam on the cradle. l 'According to the invention a ring lever is arranged bodily movable against the action'of a resilientloading member, for example a spring, in the direction in which' it is moved to eiect firing'by the cam plate on the gun carriage. The

j Y spring or like member at the same time serves v 50 to holdith'e lever or its bearing in the position'of rest. InY a further feature of the inventionthe .lever is caused to bear, under spring influence, against its support (the gun or gun carriage slide) by'` means ofadjustable abutments.

y V65S' These. lever abutments render it possible to alter the extent of idle movement ofthe iiring lever towardsthe gun trigger, and'thus to effect a fine adjustment of the moment of firing.. Moreover, bythe adjustment of the abutmentsitis valsopossible -tovchangelthe Vpreloa'ding of the 5V spring or its equivalent which holdslthe lever and its bearing in the normal position.` Y When, the safety catch having ,been released,

. the gun runs out forfiring a shot, the ring lever is. swung in its bearing by co-operationwith-ithe 10 t fixed cam plate on the vgun carriagayandactuates the gun trigger, Thepivotbearingdtself of vthe lever is thereby moved slightly.,-1 f,fV however, the safetyc'atch is in operation,andthev trigger mechanism is secured the 'pivot bearingl Vis displaced to. a greater extent, .and ,when the gun runs out the ringlevengwhile .swinging about. its point of .contact with the: guntrigger (or firing pin) moves sufficiently to avoid'dainage.A to theY cam members.V Thus,the said-resilient m mounting of the lever fulfils a double function.

. Inv the .first place the ring lever is heldjirmly infits position of rest or after it has beenactuated returns it to the position of rest, andin-the second place the firing device is `.protectefgifrom '25 being damaged should the safetycatch bein operation while the gun isrunning out. l.

An advantageous further developmentofgthe Vinvention is the insertion of a. pivotal arrri b e-y tween the iiring lever andthe controlling abutan menton .the guncarriage.` Such a pivotal arm Vis heldin a normal positionunderjthe .influence of a helical spring andfby vanalzqutment x'vhich-,ex-4 tends transverselyto therunning out` direc tion.

' The arm retains its ntillnilfA position whenVV it passes over the Vabut1jx1ent1-on the'` gun carriage. During recoiLhowever, ythe arm is oscillated so that the ring lever is not actuated duringthere- I coil movement.

If the type of ammunitionfis c :hang'ed, foreiz- 40 ample, if instead of service ammunition, blank cartridges are used, in whichk case the .running- Y out distance ofthe gun. isshortened; it may occurV Y that the pivotalarni does not pass over the rabutment on the gun carriage -butjcomestoa stop 45 against it with theiiring lever .in its displaced position. But because ,the gun, attheendyof its .backward movement has already compressed a buier spring, it now `moves flexibly'backward for a little distance together with` theriiring lever. 50 The pivotal arm pressed against the abutment in the Vgun carriage does not join in this move` y ment, but is swung round andr thereby renders it possible for the firing lever to swing into the'l position of rest before a subsequentmovementof the gun. Thus the form of construction of the firing lever with a Aspecial pivotal arm, when one changes over from one kind of ammunition to another, ensures, without any loss of time in adjusting the cam, that the gun trigger shall be actuated only while the gun is running out.

An example of construction of a firing lever according to the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. l shows in a section through the gun the arrangement of the firing lever on the slide.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the lever and the cam on the gun carriage.

Fig. 3 is a section along the lin'e III-III of Fig. 2.

Figs. 4 and 5 show the same section as Fig. 3 with the firing lever in a different position in each case. I Fig. 6 is a side elavation of the new gun on its carriage.

Fig. 'I is a horizontal section along line VII-VII of Fig. 6.

As shown in Fig. 6 the cradle a is provided with a latch plate ai to which isiattached a tension wire az which leads to a pedal an. On the slide b is a projection bo engaging the latch plate a1 for the purpose of holding the slide as well as the gun in rearmost cocked or ring position.

Fig. '7 shows the inner construction of the gun. In the breece closure c2 is arranged a longitudinally movable firing bolt c3, which, during the recoil of the breech closure is brought into a rearward cocked position by the cooking lever c4 against the action of the firing spring c5, and retained in said rearmost position by the sliding piece (sear) ce. When the breech closure has again run forward, and the gun is ready for fir-I A ing after closing, then the pressure lever c1 stands opposite the sliding piece ce. The projectile may also be red by pressing on the trigger pin m through the intermediary of the series of levers m1, m2 and c1. In addition there is further arranged a safety device m3 which with its nose m4 can be brought manually, into engagement with the lever ma in order to prevent any unintentional firing or release of the projectile.

The cradle a (Fig. l) slidably carries the slide b, in which the gun c is fixed at the front by the trunnions c1 and at the rear by means of a bolt not shown in the drawings. In a boring b1 in the slide b is housed a compression spring d which bears at opposite ends against a ange e1 of a bush e, and against a nut f1. A spring bolt f2 and a pivot g held in a bore in a flattened end fa (Fig. 2) of the bolt fz is drawn towards the gun. The force on the bolt fz is transmitted by the pivot g to the firing lever h (which is adapted to oscillate about the pivot g between guide cheeks b3 on the slide b) and, as long as the lever is in the position of rest shown in Fig. 1, is taken up by two abutment screws i1 and i2. 'Ihe ends of these screws bear against the surface bz of the slide b.

The firing lever h is provided at the bottom with a roller arm hz which carries a roller ha.

In the lower part of the lever h is a recess h5 which is covered by a cover plate h4 and contains a helical spring he which holds the roller arm in itsposition of rest inwhich it bears against an abutment h1 of the lever h. On the cradle a there is fixed by means of a bracket Ic a cam plate l which` has guide surfaces l1, lz and la.

The mode of operation of the ring device is as follows: When the slide h runs forward in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3 the roller ha runs on the surface l1 and Zz (Figs. 3 and 4). Thus the lower part of the firing lever h is swung outwards from the gun and at the same time its upper end ha moves inwards and consequently the trigger pin m is pressed into the trunnions ci. The pivotal point of the lever h is in this case the point of contact n of the abutment screw i1 with the surface b2. The abutment screw in is raised in the movement of the cam l from the surface b2 and the pivot g is drawn outwards somewhat against the influence of the spring d. If firing of the gun c is prevented by means of a safety catch, the trigger pin m cannot be moved and consequently the end ha of the lever cannot be swung inwards. Inv this case the point of contact of the cam plate l with the trigger pin m forms the pivotal point of the lever h, the abutment screws i1 and iz are then both lifted from the surface bz and the bolt g is drawn outwards to a relatively great extent. On the further forward movement of the slide b, the roller ha runs from the guide surface lz over the surface ls inwards again, so that under the influence of the spring d, the lever h can return to its position of rest. During the recoil movement of the slide b, the roller ha is held back for a short time by the surface 13, so that the roller arm h2 oscillates with respect to the cam plate lever l into the position shown in Fig. 5. In this case the'ring lever h itself remains in its position of rest. After the roller ha has run back over the cam l, the spring ha again causes the roller arm he to bear against the abutment h1.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to -be performed, we declare that what we claim is:

1. A gun comprising a cradle having a cam, a slide member in which the barrel of the gun is mounted and which is slidably mounted on the cradle, a trigger pin, a firing lever on the slide member associated with the trigger pin and operable by the cam upon the forward movement of the slide member, and a pivotal mounting for the firing lever on the slide including a spring, said spring being adapted to permit the firing lever to be moved laterally together with its pivot when the trigger pin is locked against operation.

2. A gun according to claim 1, in which the firing lever is provided with abutment screws on its pivotal connection with the slide member with which the ring lever contacts the slide member.

3. A gun according to claim 1, in which the firing leveris provided with adjustable abutment screws on its pivotal connection with the slide member with which the firing lever contacts the slide member.

4. A gun according to claim l, in which an oscillatable spring-urged arm is provided on the firing lever and operable by the cam.

5. A gun according to claim 1, in which the pivotal mounting includes a bolt having a flatl tened end and the firing lever is pivotally connected with a slot into which the bolt projects, said spring surrounding the bolt.

WALTER. ERNEST-1. HEINRICH HERLACH. 

